


"Oh How I Love Thee, Gentle Prune!"

by nightsisterkaris



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Memories, Nicknames, Nostalgia, Pet Names, name origins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-16 02:19:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18511894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightsisterkaris/pseuds/nightsisterkaris
Summary: "What the heck?" Daisy whispered, her nose scrunching with confusion, interrupting May's debriefing."What?" Coulson was smirking."What in the world did you just call May?" Coulson gave them an innocent look. "When you commented on her explanation of our mission, what did you just call her?""He called me a nickname. An old nickname that I thought we agreed to forget." May looked up, sighing as she looked up with a warning glare at Phil."I'm not sure exactly what you said, but did I just hear you call May; 'Gentle Prune'?" Daisy asked, a smile tugging at her lips.





	"Oh How I Love Thee, Gentle Prune!"

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just going to leave this here:
> 
> I am in no way making fun of any language or it's dialects. I simply enjoy finding parallels in names and their native origins. [Name origin is one of my secret hobbies, and with my still early learning of Mandarin, this is what I noticed, and it inspired this fic:
> 
> Melinda - "Gentle"
> 
> Qiu - Likely to be 秋 in Mandarin Chinese, which means "autumn".
> 
> Lian - Likely to be 蓮 in Mandarin Chinese, which means "lotus flower"
> 
> May - Likely to be 梅 in Mandarin Chinese, which means "plum" or "prune".
> 
> Therefore, her full name in Chinese is 梅秋蓮.
> 
> (Melinda Qiaolian May = "Gentle Autumn Lotus Flower Prune/Plum")]

   " _What the heck_?" Daisy whispered, her nose scrunching with confusion, interrupting May's debriefing.

   "What?" Coulson was smirking.

   "What in the _world_  did you just call May?" Coulson gave them an innocent look. "When you commented on her explanation of our mission, what did you just call her?"

   "He called me a nickname. An  _old_  nickname that I thought we agreed to  _forget._ " May looked up, sighing as she looked up with a warning glare at Phil.

   "I'm not sure exactly what you said, but did I just hear you call May;  _'Gentle Prune'_?" Daisy asked, a smile tugging at her lips. May's glare turned to her as well.

   "Yes." Phil said at the same time May told her, "No."

   Daisy burst out laughing. Pretty soon Mack snickered. Then Jemma snorted. And soon the entire room was trying not to join in.

   "May I inquire as to why?" Simmons asked daringly.

   May shot Coulson a threatening look. She groaned when he started, "Back when we were in Academy, our linguist instructor, of whom was very well-learned in her craft, had an obsession with the origin of names. . ." he turned to glance at May. The room also shifted to steal a quick stare. "And one of her favorite things was to take our names, tell us the roots, then call us that for the rest of the year."

   "So. . . " It started to dawn on Daisy. "May's name means  _'Gentle Prune'_?"

   " _'Melinda'_  means  _'Gentle'_ and  _'May'_ , using the Mandarin spelling and pronunciation,  _'_ _Méi'_ , it then means  _'Plum'_  or  _'Prune'_. But I think  _'Prune'_  sounds better, don't you agree?"

   "No." May raised an eyebrow. The team cracked up.

   "And her middle name translates into both  _'Autumn'_ and  _'Lotus Flower'._ "

   "Shut up,  _'Gift-from-God',_ " Melinda growled, " _'McCol'_."

   The team roused with another fit of laughter. _"McCol?"_

   "If you'd like to get technical, It can go  _many_  ways. But 'McCol' sounds better, don't you agree?" May said, and the team nodded vigorously.

    Melinda was clearly getting just a hint of revenge, "When it's from a reduced form of  _'McCool'_ , with the addition of the English patronymic suffix  _'-son'_  in place of the Gaelic prefix  _'mac'_." She grinned. "So  _'Coulson'_  is technically  _'Mac-Coul'._ "

   The team was a roar of laughter.

   "As I was saying, that was quite the senior year." Phil said. "People called Garret  _'Shapely legs'_ for the entire semester because his surname was from a French nickname for a person with nice legs."

   Coulson continued, "And our teacher would have called you, Jemma, by the name  _'Simund'_  . Which is the root of your surname, and it's composed of Old Norse. . .  _sig_  for 'victory' and  _mundr_  'protection', which after the Norman Conquest was taken as an equivalent to  _'Simon'_." Coulson told her.

   Everyone stared. "When did you become an expert on Old Norse?" Bobbi asked. Jemma blinked.

   "Ever since I was stabbed by one." Phil joked.

   "No, there was another person in the class with the same name." May rolled her eyes.

   "Don't tell them that!" Coulson folded his arms. "Anyway, back to business."

   "Yes sir, Mr. Mc _Cod_." Daisy saluted.

   " _Simund_  reports for duty." Jemma snarked.

   " _Gentle Prune_ , will you please continue the debriefing?" Bobbi tried to keep a straight face, motioning to the papers on the table.   

    " _May_  would be happy too." Melinda corrected in a threatening tone.

   Daisy bit her lip and whispered, "Yes Mrs. Prune."

 

 


End file.
